On Tour

Twenty years in Siberia will have performances in Edinburgh in October 17.  A dramatic monologue based on “20 Years in Siberia. The Memories of a Lifetime” by Anita Nandris-CudlaStarring Amalia CiolanAdaptation, direction and set design by Sorin Misiriantu „20 Years in Siberia” is the destiny of a peasant woman in Bucovina, North Romania, the author of one of the most important testimonials of the feared Soviet Gulag. Anita and her entire family were among the 13,000 Romanians who lived the terror of deportation in June 1941. She experienced famine, disease and hard work in one of the harshest environments on Earth, managing to bring up her sons and return to her native village in 1961. Her book of memoirs was only published after the Romanian Revolution in 1989 and was awarded the „Lucian Blaga” Prize of the Romanian Academy. Brought on stage by the Bucharest National Theatre in a most powerful one woman show and accompanied by striking visuals, the performance unveils the true terror of communism that affected every person whose life was affected and changed forever. Amalia Cioran masterfully manages to bring to life the universe of this simple woman, a perfect storyteller and a striking personality, a narration stripped of hatred, self pity or accusations, an account of things just as they happened.   The performance is part of the “The Trial of Communism through Theatre” Programme and the Romanian Cultural Days in Edinburgh programme, organised by the Romanian Cultural Institute in London in partnership with cultural organisations in Edinburgh. Tickets available  £10 general admission, £5 concession£5 for groups of over 20 (email office@icr-london.co.uk)    Details  

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Today, our entire existence, spirituality and the purpose of culture, together with the survival of cultural events such as the International Small Scenes Theatre Festival in Rijeka (which has existed for more than twenty years) have all been put into question. A slogan fitting to this modern reality and our fears and anxieties would be: "The theatre and modern times: from splendour to despair". Already seven years ago, we knew that the then-nascent crisis was not solely economic in nature, and that it was not merely a transitory phenomenon of limited scope. Today, we know that the very foundations of our notions of civilised life have been disturbed, as an increasing number of people are desperate, hungry and have lost faith in political solutions, while life itself has become a dangerous affair. On the other hand, technological development has become a force of terrific proportions, while the human superstructure has dissolved through worldview clashes and technological pragmatism. In such a climate of dissatisfaction, digital alienation and economic selfishness, the human race is at risk for contracting new global neuroses, which have already started to appear from all ends, while our glorious civilisation today is, paradoxically, torn between splendour and despair. The plays that we have selected aim to describe the current state of the world - or at least to provide some food for thought. We believe that, among these plays, you will certainly be able to find traces of those problems that are preoccupying you: the arrogance of modern people who live for spending and entertainment while forgetting their own responsibilities in Bourgeoisie by the Theatre on the Balustrade (Divadlo na Zabradli) from Prague; crisis, love and despair in Kazimir and Karolina by "Atelje 212" from Belgrade; human irrationality, limited thinking and backwardness in The Broken Jug by Jugoslav Dramma Theatre; or perhaps war, violence and the destructive nature of humankind in Aleksandra Zec by the HKD Theatre in Rijeka. On offer will also be tales about modern demons i.e. A Short Story on the Antichrist by the Bitef theatre from Belgrade; on manipulation and one-upmanship in The Lesson by the national theatre "I. L. Caragiale" from Bucharest; on loneliness and terrorism in The Cellphone by the theatre "Moruzgva" from Zagreb; and on the eros of destruction in the play Hedda Gabler by the Slovenian National Theatre from Maribor.

NTB’s The Tempest will be present on the stage of the Hungarian National Theatre (Budapest) on the 25th of April 2015, along with other great productions, actors and renowned directors. Present for the second time in one of the most ambitious European theatre festivals, MITEM (Madach International Theatre Meeting), organized by the National Theatre in Budapest, with the support of the Hungarian government, “I. L. Caragiale” National Theatre of Bucharest will present the show The Tempest by William Shakespeare, directed by Alexander Morfov, starring Ion Caramitru. NTB marked its presence at the previous edition of the festival with the performance Lottery Tickets by I. L. Caragiale, directed by Alexandru Dabija, which enjoyed substantial success, being extensively commented and rated. The second edition of MITEM Festival will take place between 14 – 28th of April 2015 in the capital of Hungary and will have, as its central theme, the Actor and his art. The event in Budapest will bring together 20 performances from 13 countries, prestigious companies and theatrical productions, signed by important European and non-European directors: Matthias Langhoff, Toni Servillo, Luk Perceval, Emma Dante, Eugenio Barba, Viktor Rizakov and many others. It is highly important for us to notice the way national theatres, along with independent companies, directors, playwrights and theatre experts from all around the world react to the transformations of the 21st century, says Attila Vidnyánszky, General manager of the National Theatre of Budapest. In a world marked, on one hand, by globalization and, on the other, by new divisions, especially in Europe, art – and theatre, in particular – is a source of novelty, fruitfulness and provocative ideas that influence our everyday life. It is important for us to be able to meet and communicate with artists of various nationalities, to admire each other’s work and to try to understand one another. In this way, we will be able to discover ourselves in others, to discover them in us, because after a certain point, our purposes no longer differ. I feel that this meeting will bring about such a vision, a broader perspective on things. We want the MITEM productions to be to become experiences shared by artists, the public and theatre experts alike. That is why, in the title of the festival, I included the term “meeting”, through which we wish to transmit the importance of cooperation and the idea of “togetherness”, as opposed to that of competition.                                                                This is the first international participation of The Tempest, which premiered in April 2014, and the second meeting of the well-known Bulgarian director with the cast and members of the Romanian NTB, after having directed The Visit of the Old Lady in 2011. MITEM Festival is, once again this year, part of Budapest Spring Festival, one of the most significant European festivals dedicated to all arts. According to Péter Hoppál, the Hungarian Secretary of State for Culture: Budapest should expect an open and stillisticaly diverse encounter. The intercultural meetings, the cooperation and approach to other’s ideas and creation will encourage all theatre artists to renew and perfect their works and, at the same time, to become more connected to their own culture and traditions. Translated by Ioana Axenoi Pănescu   Details